Focus Press has finished as a finalist in the sustainability award for small business (under 100 staff). The Sustainability Green Globe Awards honour environmental leaders across commerce sectors, by recognising achievement in environmental sustainability, and are open to businesses, individuals, government and non-government organisations. Now in their eighth year, the awards are run by the NSW Department of Environment and Climate
Change (DECC).
That Focus Press was a finalist in the inaugural small business environmental
sustainability category, left managing director David Fuller mighty proud.
“We entered the awards after being invited to by the DECC, which in itself
was an honour.”
Fuller told ProPrint that being a finalist meant the company had accomplished
much. “Firstly, we’ve shown that a printing company can be a finalist in energy-focused awards. Secondly, we need more ‘good news stories’ for the industry.”
Despite Fuller’s South Strathfield (NSW)-based company having a strong eco focus since 2000, he admits to being completely taken by surprise upon reading the company, with 60-odd staff, had made the ‘finalist’ ranks.
Holding both ISO14001 and ISO9001 accreditations, as well as FSC, Focus Press has made a strong commitment to ‘green’ printing. Indeed, Fuller believes
Focus’s eco-friendly practices have produced savings and efficiencies, making
for a more profitable business.
“Culturally, we are a totally different, and improved, company compared with
before we started with EMS [environmental management systems] eight
years ago.”
Fuller says their achievements are strictly documented, with some eight years of
data drawn from their chart of accounts, and automatically posted into their EMS.
“These, for instance, include waste collection, water usage and rag purchases,
which have all markedly reduced against internal benchmarks.”
Fuller says both to the company, and to him personally, “it rates highly being
invited to enter these awards. Reducing our energy use, per unit of sales, has been a challenge to us over the years, but our results have proven that if you measure it, you can manage it. If all companies in Australia were to follow our lead, we would be ahead of what’s required in the Kyoto Protocol very quickly.”
DECC says Green Globe finalists and category winners showed long-term commitment
to environmental best practice, with sustainability principles integrated
into all aspects of business operations. Fuller says Focus Press is looking forward to entering again next year, with these sorts of competitions helping to focus ecopractices, plus offering a great internal boost from the recognition created.
Focus has previously won two other environmental awards, plus other non-industry accolades, including the National Manufacturing Sustainability Award (in 2005).
The 2008 function was hosted by the NSW Minister for Climate Change and the Environment, Verity Firth, with the ceremony attracting more than 500 business leaders and experts in environmental management.
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